Mozilla: Firefox 5 coming on June 21, Firefox 6 on August 18

[majithia23]

April 7, 2011, 1:14 PM EST

Mozilla has further detailed its new development model for Firefox. The current draft says Firefox 5 will arrive on June 21, 2011 and Firefox 6 will be released on August 18, 2011. These dates may change, but they're what the company is currently aiming for. All changes to Firefox source code are initially integrated in the mozilla-central Mercurial repository. At scheduled intervals (typically 6 weeks), the changes are imported from mozilla-central to one of three other channels (larger features and projects are usually initially developed in other repositories which track mozilla-central). In addition to mozilla-central (currently referred to as nightly), there will also be firefox-experimental, firefox-beta, and Firefox (release), each backed by its own Mercurial repository. These names are currently placeholders and Mozilla may still change them.

The firefox-experimental channel will get new features at regular intervals, but some of them might be disabled if they look like they need more work. The beta channel receives only new features that are slated for the next Firefox release. New features are never directly added to the firefox-experimental or firefox-beta channels. In general, each stage of the process (and activity pertaining to a particular version) will last for 6 weeks, but because of the development overlap, we can expect a new version every 6 to 12 weeks.

Firefox 5 (pictured above) will be slightly different from future releases due to the lack of a development overlap with Firefox 4. Mozilla announced last month that Firefox 4, Firefox 5, Firefox 6, and Firefox 7 would all ship in 2011. That looked nearly impossible after the delays of Firefox 4, but with this new schedule, the company may manage after all.

TS

[DreamHaters]

O_O Wow.

[implague]

gr8 newa

[oZ.]

if no delays + stable = I JIZZ! :fear:

[DKT27]

New Firefox Schedule Will Bring the Good Stuff Faster

Mozilla's Firefox 4 may still be fresh from the oven and cooling on millions of users' computers, but Mozilla has already set an aggressive schedule with specific dates for the release of the open source browser's upcoming versions.

Indeed, making good on the promise back in February that it was planning to step up the pace of its browser releases, Mozilla has now made plain that it plans to ship the final release of Firefox 5 on June 21, likely followed by Firefox 6 in mid-August.

Beginning with Firefox 6, in fact, Mozilla will adopt a standard, overlapping 18-week schedule by which each new version spends six weeks in each of three different stages: the "central" or "nightly" phase, which is "just like the current repository," Mozilla notes; the "aurora" phase, where work done previously is stabilized; and then the beta phase, in which any remaining issues are fixed. A draft outline is posted on Mozilla's site.

'Releases Are Not Delayed'

Whereas previous Firefox releases have taken many months to develop, Mozilla's new timetable will impose a much stricter schedule that's akin to the one Google follows for its own Chrome competitor.

"Each release happens regardless of whether a given feature is ready, and releases are not delayed to wait for a feature to stabilize," Mozilla explains in a separate draft document. "The goal of the process is to provide regular improvements to users without disrupting longer term work."

According to Mozilla's schedule, Firefox 5 will enter the aurora phase on Tuesday. At the same time, Firefox 6 will enter its central, or nightly, phase.

(More) Instant Gratification

Firefox 4 has propelled Mozilla's browser to the forefront of the pack with enhancements including greatly boosted speed, a widely touted "Do Not Track" mechanism, a "tabs on top" layout and more.

That version of the browser--which blew away expectations with some 7 million downloads in its first 24 hours--may have taken a relatively long time to bake, but it's clear future versions won't.

I love Firefox 4, but I can't wait to try out the next version, which promises to feature a more responsive interface, an updated search bar, site-specific tabs and more. It's exciting to see that Mozilla is committing to make the browser even better sooner--and more often.

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